D.C. Budget Pint Fight!

Local activists trying to win budget autonomy for the District plan to raise funds — along with plenty of pints of DC Brau — Tuesday night during their inaugural DC Budget Freedom Happy Hour at Meridian Pint (3400 11th St. NW).

Bartenders at the Columbia Heights craft-beer mecca will pour $4 DC Brau Public Ale drafts from 5 to 8 p.m., with 100 percent of proceeds from the first three kegs going directly to the campaign for a referendum to untangle the city’s budget from the congressional appropriations process.

With seven weeks remaining before the April 23 special election, DC Vote is working to spread support for Home Rule Charter Amendment Referendum 8. If passed, it would allow the city to spend its approximately $6 billion a year in locally raised tax dollars and avoid the anxiety that shrouds city government officials each time Capitol Hill nears a spending standoff.

DC Vote has organized a DC Budget Freedom Committee to accept outside donations for its “Yes on 8” campaign. The push to mobilize voter turnout is also supported by DC Appleseed and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.

Though the measure is expected to have broad support from the District’s roughly 300,000 registered voters and there is no threshold for approval, activists hope to highlight broad community support for self-determination.